Members of the Ogun State branch of National Automobile Technicians Association (NATA) on Tuesday, went up in arms against one another over the sum N50m donated to the association by Governor Dapo Abiodun in March.
We learnt that the aggrieved NATA members had threatened to physically attack their leaders if they refused to disburse the money.
One of the aggrieved members, Sobowale Sobanke, had accused the State Chairman, Adeleke Balogun and the Secretary, Segun Osho of allegedly embezzling the money provided for their association by the governor.
During his campaign to the NATA headquarters in Abeokuta, Abiodun said he gave out a sum of N50million to the association as loan for its members.
However, Sobowale alleged that the leadership of NATA had embezzled the fund, stating that only a sum of N1 Million was released to be shared among members at the rate of N5,000 each for the entire members at hisMechanic Workshop in Laderin, Abeokuta.
Sobowale appealed to the state government, security operatives and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to help investigate the whereabouts of the money .
He stressed that being transparent about the fund would avert looming bloodletting among members.
He asked that the entire NATA leadership in the state to resign from their position for a fresh election, “according to the constitution of the association.”
Reacting, the Ogun NATA State chairman denied diverting the money, saying the money has been kept “at three different community banks.”
Balogun, who spoke on phone, promised to disclose identities of the community banks later.